News

This year for Pride, Pretty Boi Drag introduced a set of new ‘Pretty Boi Pride’ tees that will go on sale at their annual Pride brunch on Saturday, June 8th at The Bier Baron Tavern.

“This is actually the second time we’ve done Pride exclusive tees,” says co-producer, Pretty Rik E. “Our first year as a troupe we did them [‘Pretty Boi Pride’ tees] and they were super popular.” This year, Pretty Boi Drag is not only releasing a new version of the original ‘Pretty Boi Pride’ tee, but a Trans flag version will serve as a fundraiser for DCATS. For every ‘Pretty Boi Pride’ Trans flag tee sold, 50% of the proceeds will go to DCATS.

DCATS (DC Area Transmasculine Society) is a trans-led organization that serves to advance the lives of transmasculine folx by providing resources that help overcome the social, economic, and health-related barriers to living authentically.

“We are super excited to use our platform to help raise awareness and money for such a great organization,” says Lexie Starre.

After Pride, the tees will be available for sale on the Pretty Boi Drag website.

The United States Library of Congress has selected the Pretty Boi Drag website for inclusion in the historic collection of Internet materials related to the LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive.

“This is not only an honor,” says Pretty Boi Drag co-producer, Pretty Rik E, “But this is a testament to all of the work we’ve put in over the last few years to put drag kings on the map.”

“It’s a little surreal,” admits co-producer Lexie Starre. “We didn’t start Pretty Boi Drag to necessarily make history. We wanted to create a truly inclusive space for drag kings and a place where we can continually strive to put on bigger and better shows featuring drag kings.”

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Pretty Boi Drag first hit the DC performance scene in January of 2016. The first, of many, sold out shows featuring QPOC drag kings from the DC, Maryland, Virginia area. Since then, Pretty Boi Drag has also won a couple of awards in the Best of Gay DC, an annual award show by The Washington Blade. In 2018, Pretty Boi Drag worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs to produce the first annual ‘District of Pride’, an inclusive showcase of LGBTQ performers and talent from the DMV.

On Sunday, January 20th, Pretty Boi Drag celebrated it’s 3rd year as DC’s most exciting drag show in front of a sold out crowd at The Bier Baron Tavern in Dupont Circle, DC.

The full production show featured performances from both familiar and new faces to the DC drag king scene. Performers included Pretty Boi Drag veterans: Sebastian Katz, Mich, Phoenix King, Zack Landenhur and Jorge Escobar. Some new faces to the stage included Sideshow Bro, aka Dr. Torcher, who is also the producer for the DC Weirdo Show and Jael Finesse a new comer to both drag kinging and performance.

Pretty Boi Drag is featured in the Washington Post Express days before celebrating our 3rd Anniversary at The Bier Baron Tavern.

The article features an interview with Pretty Boi Drag Producers, Lexie Starre and Pretty Rik E.

“We’re not just going up onstage and lip-syncing — we’re giving audiences more than what they expected when they came through the door,” Pretty Rik E says. “That will eventually help us carve out our own mainstream space in this world, where people [now] associate drag with just drag queens.”

Thank you to everyone who voted us Best Drag Show in the 2018 Washington Blade’s Best of Gay DC! Pretty Boi Drag has been nominated in this category since our inception and we are so grateful to our amazing fans who made this happen! We can’t wait to bring you even more drag king experiences in the coming year!

Co-producer Pretty Rik E was featured on NPR’s 1A with Joshua Johnson for their “Ask a Drag Queen” segment. The segment also featured drag queens, Lena Lett, Brigette Bidet, and Bianca Del Rio. On the show, Rik E got the opportunity to talk about Pretty Boi Drag, drag kinging as an art from, and answer questions from listeners.

Elevating the art of kinging and making more audiences aware of what we do is something that is very important to Pretty Boi Drag. We were so excited to have this platform to reach so many people who may have never heard of a drag king. Joshua is a great host and the segment was a lot of fun!

This year Pretty Boi Drag teamed up with Lee Perrine (from Makers Lab) and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to create the first annual District of Pride, a celebration of queer artistry in our city!

Held at the Lincoln Theater, District of Pride featured a variety of performances, from drag to drumming and a whole lot more. Well known local artists such as The CooLots and BoomScat were featured, as well as many other performers throughout the city.

This event was free to attend and saw an audience of upwards of 800 people! We are so proud to have brought such an amazing show to our city and really highlight all the amazing queer talent we have here!